Chris Anne Affleck, a longtime educator and the mother of acclaimed actors Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck, has reportedly died at the age of 83.Chris, born in New York City in 1942, died on June 2 months after learning she had pancreatic cancer, according to a family obituary published in the Boston Globe this week.The grandmother of five was diagnosed with the aggressive disease in December 2025 and was told she had six months to live."Her greatest wish after her diagnosis, however, was to live to see her grandson graduate high school," the family tribute states. "She did so, attending with her family on May 31, 2026. She died peacefully, in her sleep, two days later."According to the Cleveland Clinic, pancreatic cancer is often not detected until advanced stages and is resistant to common drug treatments, making it hard to remedy.Throughout her life, Chris served as an educator and an advocate who participated in counterculture throughout the 1960s, as noted in the obituary. She instructed literacy classes during Freedom Summer, an initiative to help Black citizens vote in Mississippi and a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement, and marched in opposition to the Vietnam War.Chris backed her sons' acting careersChris dedicated more than three decades as a public school teacher after earning a diploma from Harvard University and retired in 2008, her family added."Every student, whether just arrived from Haiti or Cambridge upper crust, was a cherished citizen of her classroom republic, equal to each other and to herself," the obituary states.Chris is survived by Ben and Casey, whom she has backed throughout their careers in Hollywood. They came from her former marriage with Timothy Affleck, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She is credited for Ben's early industry connections and was notably present when he and Matt Damon snagged their first Oscar for "Good Will Hunting" in 1998, per the outlet.In an appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" in 2020, Ben recalled a lesson his mother taught him when he was 10 growing up in Boston that left the audience laughing."I really wanted a dog when I was a kid. My mom said, ' You are not responsible enough to have a dog.' I said, 'I am responsible enough,'" the actor said. "She said, 'You're right. Why don't you show me that you can do this? You have to walk the dog every day, twice a day."The catch? Ben continued, "She goes, 'First you have to walk an imaginary dog. This woman... gave me a leash, and I had to walk around the block with an empty leash. Worst, we get to three weeks, and she was like, 'Forget it.' She was like, 'I didn't think you were going to follow through.'"USA TODAY reached out to Ben and Casey Affleck's reps for comment.Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at tardrey@usatodayco.com.